Images to guide the modeling of the other badges were scraped from eBay. The best images I came across are attached below, but they are poor. Could I ask, if you have a Voyager, to take a sharp closeup of the badge and post it here? Thanks. Given that there seem to be several types of badge (embossed metal sheet, electroplated plastic), the more images from various generations of Voyager the better.

I've ordered a sheet of 20 badges from Shapeways in their "Fine Detail Plastic" material ($7.50 plus shipping). We'll see how it goes; they probably won't be quite as good as the milled version. I plan to try giving the plastic parts a metallic finish on top using laser foil.

Wow, you are my hero! Please drop me a PM whenever you have some for sale! I've got 2 badgeless 16Cs and a 15C as well.

I have to ask... the milled one looks FANTASTIC. If you have a CNC mill capable of doing such fine work and have already programmed it, why not just make them that way rather than 3D printing in plastic, which will probably have less-crisp lines and poorer details? It would seem you presently have all the hard parts figured out for how to do it in metal.

Besides looking better, I think the milled aluminum ones will hold up much better--the dark paint is in the valleys, where it is protected. On a 3D printed piece, the "chrome" needs to be applied to the highlights where it is exposed.

Yes, you're no doubt right that the metal version will hold up better, but they do take a nontrivial amount of time to mill (about 30 minutes). It's nice to have a plan B involving just 3D-printed plastic, since anyone can order those at low cost and without any tooling investment. Still, I may start making a few more metal ones when the machine would otherwise be idle.

Another possibility might be a silicone mold made from the metal masters. This way, high-quality plastic parts can be cast as needed from the mold (they would likely be better than 3D prints). There's still the problem of making the surface metallic. I'll try the foil; and might a very light overcoat of sealer or clear-coat make it acceptably robust?

(05-23-2019 01:31 PM)burkhard Wrote: I have to ask... the milled one looks FANTASTIC. If you have a CNC mill capable of doing such fine work and have already programmed it, why not just make them that way rather than 3D printing in plastic, which will probably have less-crisp lines and poorer details? It would seem you presently have all the hard parts figured out for how to do it in metal.

Note that Shapeways can print parts in aluminum, gold, and platinum as well as various types of plastic. Unfortunately printing in metal is not cheap.

I've made an initial small batch of four badges in aluminum (see attached photo). Just send a PM if interested; I'm asking $5 plus shipping. Perhaps future iterations in plastic, with thin aluminum lamination, can be cheaper.

(06-05-2019 02:18 PM)striegel Wrote: Is the attached any better for your use?

Yes, that is much better, thank you. I plan to tweak the CAD models on the 12C and 15C to make the lettering a little closer to the originals.

(06-05-2019 02:18 PM)striegel Wrote: Also note that the 12C logo should be gold in color.

Noted. With aluminum, I guess Alodine would be an option, which has a golden color (chromate conversion coating). I'm not sure if that's possible with such a small part. Anodizing could also be done using a gold-colored dye. Could also mill the badge from brass laminated with gold ("gold filled" plate from the jeweler's and watchmaker's toolkit; common on pocketwatch cases). Or foil, but foil might have durability problems.

(06-03-2019 12:39 AM)Peter Monta Wrote: I've made an initial small batch of four badges in aluminum (see attached photo). Just send a PM if interested.

I bought a couple of these from Peter and just received them.
While I replied to him already via PM, I wanted to publicly thank him for his efforts.
They look AMAZING. I don't think they could come out any better.

Machined out of aluminum with black-painted low areas, these should have even better wear resistance than the originals.